About Us… A Little Farm History
Cane Creek Valley Farm is a fourth generation, family owned and operated organic
vegetable farm located in Fletcher, NC. Our family has been farming in the Cane
Creek Community for over 105 years.
It all began with George W. Nesbitt. He purchased the farm in 1903 and grew
organic vegetables that he sold locally and to surrounding communities. He
brought up two lovely daughters, Lynne and Georgia, and a son named John K.
Nesbitt.
John grew up working the land behind a horse and plow. He had a very real
understanding of the land and his environment – and that fostered a genuine love for farming. He left the farm as a young man
to pursue a degree in Agronomy, taught classes to help other farmers improve
their farms, and worked for the Soil and Water Conservation District. Then he
moved his young family back to the farm where he and his wife Mary raised a
family of five children. He spent the rest of his life applying all that he had
learned and experienced to his own farming practices.
John introduced the first Holstein cows to the farm operation in 1954 and a
dairy operation began. The focus on growing vegetables shifted to growing corn,
hay and grain crops for the cattle. He took great pride in caring for his land
and passed that philosophy of conservation down to his son George A. Nesbitt (‘Tony’) as they worked side by side.
Tony was born and raised on the farm and describes himself as a farm boy that
truly enjoys life on the farm! Some of his earliest memories are riding on the
tractor through the fields with his Dad – he taught him a lot about the practice of farming.
Tony and his wife, Celia D. Nesbitt, completely took over the responsibility of
the family farm in 1986. Over the years, they have grown the dairy operation
from a 75 cow herd to a 550 cow herd. T&C Dairy currently sells almost a million gallons of antibiotic free, hormone
free milk each year that is locally processed in Asheville, NC and distributed
to surrounding area stores. They have made their living for 35 years dairy
farming on this land. They consider themselves blessed to be able to farm and
raise their family of nine children on this land and in the community they grew
up in and call home.
In August 2005, their daughter Amanda N. Sizemore, along with her husband Jeremy
and their two children Emma and Judson, came back home to the family farm. With
a desire to diversify the farm and create a more sustainable operation – the certified organic vegetable branch was created and named Cane Creek Valley
Farm.
Like her grandfather, Amanda pursued a degree in Horticulture from Clemson
University and wanted to apply what she learned to the family farm. Jeremy was
able to quit his job as a metal urgist and devote his entire focus to the farm
in 2008.
The two farm operations compliment each other quite well. The dairy supplies a
constant source of compost and manures for soil amendments and fertilizers the
vegetables need to grow. And Tony gets to continue the tradition of sharing his
years of experience and knowledge with the next generation of farmers. The
vegetable operation has grown from 2.5 acres to 35 acres over the past four seasons. We are slowly growing and diversifying our markets. There is still a lot
of work to be done in order to transition this farm to the next generation and
we will be depending upon the support of our community. We are now proud to
offer our delicious, nutritious and local organic produce to our farm friends
and community in a new CSA subscription format!
Now we are also offering Free Range Eggs and All Natural Beef and Pork!
